Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 219 We are willing to accept the protection of the Southern Alliance

In fact, Henry came to Zheng Yi yesterday as a lobbyist for the UK.

Chen Liushi's behavior was so arrogant that the British thought Zheng Yi wanted to completely expel their British influence in Southeast Asia.

To be honest, if Fatso was in power at this time, Britain might have already had a small-scale war conflict with them.

But now that Fatty Qiu has gone down, can they talk?

The Labour Party is still easy to talk to.

To be precise, Zheng Yi is not treating Britain like a dog. He really feels that he and the Labour Party have a basis for cooperation and can work together happily.

The Labour Party’s political foundation is a large number of ordinary people, and its political demands are the redistribution of domestic wealth. The overseas interests of the British Empire have nothing to do with the grassroots interests of ordinary people.

None of the British Empire's colonies could make money. All of them needed taxpayers' money to subsidize the Colonial Office. On the surface, this was to maintain national dignity, but in reality it was to make those large multinational corporations rich.

It is equivalent to ordinary people paying the cost of colonization, while multinational corporations enjoy the profits of colonization.

This is also the reason why the Labour Party has little interest in colonial rule and is even eager to get rid of the burden. If there were no constraints from those multinational groups, they would immediately express their intention to throw away all the colonies.

All the money from running the colonies was used to provide welfare to the people.

Before Fatty Qiu came to power for the second time, the possibility of him having a direct military conflict with Britain was really small.

What is more difficult to deal with now is actually the damn French side.

Commander Dai is a tougher guy than Fatty Bhikkhu.

To be honest, Zheng Yi really hates dealing with these so-called hawkish diplomats.

There is actually nothing to worry about with the Japanese troops in Singapore. Just leave them alone for a day or two until they have shown enough power, and then he can go to Singapore to receive the surrender document.

The same is true for the Dutch East Indies, which is located south of the Malay Peninsula and north of Australia, and there is actually a lot of fun to be had there.

However, he was unable to reach the French East Indies region north of Thailand.

It just so happened that because of his previous deal with Minet, the Japanese troops in the French East Indies were now clamoring to surrender to Mr. Zheng and wanted him to accept the surrender.

You say he won't accept it. If you ask him to spit out the meat bun that has been put into his mouth, he will definitely not be happy.

But if he accepts it, Commander Dai will definitely not be happy. He is not like the British Labour Party, which always puts the welfare of the British people first in everything. People who engage in strongman politics will definitely fight for every inch of overseas interests.

A military conflict might actually break out.

But Zheng Yi really lacks some military projection power over there.

Of course, that's all for later.

France can't even muster a decent navy now, and its main focus is on Africa. There is no rush for it. Right now, the right thing to do is to accept the surrender of the Japanese army in Malaya.

After staying in Alor Setar for a whole day, when the Malayan puppet army surrendered, Zheng Yi sat at the end of the surrender ceremony and watched without showing up. Instead, he gave the honor of surrender to Datuk Onn.

After the surrender was completely completed here, Zheng Yi still did not go directly to Singapore to accept the surrender of the Japanese army. Instead, he went to Brunei first under the escort of the flying squadron.

………………

Brunei.

hum~
hum~
Countless P38D, P51 and other fighter jets were circling over the Brunei Royal Palace like locusts.

A full 20,000 fully armed SAARC soldiers had arrived here before Zheng Yi, and surrounded Brunei's oil fields, Japanese barracks, and the Sultan's Palace in Brunei. Even the streets were under martial law.

When Zheng Yi's plane landed at the airport and he slowly walked out of the cabin door, all the local Chinese in Brunei who had received the news in advance burst into extremely enthusiastic cheers.

"Long live Mr. Zheng, long live the Nanyang Chinese, long live the SAARC~~"

The cheers were like thunder and waves, yet they were so orderly and it was obvious that they had been rehearsed in advance.

Zheng Yi naturally smiled and waved at them.

At this time, the proportion of Chinese in Brunei is still very high, almost 40%.

Before he even got off the plane, a Japanese officer came running over and knelt down in front of Zheng Yi, holding the surrender document high in his hand and shouting in Japanese:

"The Japanese army in Brunei is willing to surrender to Mr. Zheng!"

As he spoke, the Japanese soldier himself was a little confused.

In the whole of Brunei, all the Japanese troops put together only have one regiment that is not fully staffed. They are all under the command of the Southern Corps in Singapore. If you want to surrender, go directly to Singapore.

Zheng Yi just nodded, took the letter of surrender, and ignored him. He just ordered his men to escort them away first.

"Mr. Zheng's presence in our small country of Brunei is truly a great honor to us all."

The speaker was Sultan Ahmad of Brunei, and what he spoke was actually Chinese.

He hugged his body and shook hands with Zheng Yi in a humble manner. He couldn't be humble, because who knew what Mr. Zheng was here for.

Penang and Brunei are so close to each other, and there are so many Chinese in Brunei. With the 20,000 SAARC troops he brought with him, it is not impossible for him to swallow up the whole Brunei directly.

In fact, Brunei was not a sovereign state during this period.

The country of Brunei was essentially created by the British in order to balance Malaysia when Malaysia later gained independence. In essence, it is just a troublemaker. At this moment in time, it is still more than ten years away from Malaysia's independence in history.

Therefore, he, as a sultan, was actually no different from other sultans in Malaya, especially since he was also controlled by a large number of Chinese and Chinese workers in the country.

It would be easy for SAARC to deal with him.

"Mr. Ahmed, you are the Sultan. There is no need for this. Please come, let's talk in the palace."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi naturally put his arm around the old man and walked towards the palace, as if he was the master.

"Yesterday I communicated with the British side. The British navy will soon return to Singapore. I just came back from Alor Setar. Dato' Onn and others are planning to establish a modern political party system. The nine sultans are currently negotiating together and intend to communicate with the British about the independence of the Malays.

As a neighbor, I feel I need to come and ask you. After all, Brunei is different from other sultanates. The proportion of Chinese people is high. As the president of the Nanyang Chinese Chamber of Commerce, I always have to take some responsibility for them. Your Majesty, what are your plans?"

"Does Brunei intend to merge with the nine sultans and negotiate with the British together? Or will you negotiate with the British alone? Will you continue to be a British colony, or will you have some degree of independence? Will you allow Britain to be your protectorate, or your suzerain?"

Mahmoud was stunned when he heard this and asked in surprise, "The British will come back? You can still let the British return to Singapore?"

Zheng Yi: "Of course, Singapore is the core of the British colonial rule in the Far East. Of course I want the British to come back. SAARC is just a commercial alliance. Its territory only covers Penang, Alor Setar, and Yangon. The rest of the area is a British colony. I have nothing to do with it, and there is no investment from our SAARC. Why should I stop the British from coming back to manage their colonies?"

Mahmoud was a smart man. He immediately realized what Zheng Yi meant and quickly said, "Brunei, Brunei has oil. We have the best oil in the entire Southeast Asia. I am willing to accept investment from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). We are willing to accept the protection of the SAARC."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yi smiled with satisfaction, and after entering the palace with him, he sat in the main seat without any humility.

You know, Brunei has very good oil reserves. Of course, this place is also quite special.

In Southeast Asia, the vast majority of oil workers are Chinese. Brunei is so rich in oil that all its industries are built around oil. Therefore, there are so many Chinese talents, and they are an important part of Brunei as a whole.

The Brunei of this time and space is not the wealthy small country that is comparable to the paradise on earth in later generations. The oil all belongs to Shell, and it has nothing to do with the people or the royal family of Brunei.

The British were very cruel in their colonial exploitation, and basically didn't even leave them a sip of soup.

Historically, Brunei was in the turbulent period of national liberation in Southeast Asia. In fact, it was after it benefited from the Indonesian independence movement that it began to give them some benefits and gradually increased its royal family's shareholding in Brunei's oil fields.

Because of their special geographical location, the British were afraid that they would join Indonesia, but also wanted to leave a troublemaker to annoy Malaysia, which led to their independence.

Because it is a country that sits purely on oil fields, the external environment is quite good. The successive governments of Malaysia have been relatively stable, so the citizens of this country are relatively happy.

Because the country is so rich, the Brunei royal family is known as the most luxurious royal family in the world and is used to spending money lavishly. Compared with them, the Saudi royal family is a far cry from their younger brothers. Not only does the country not collect taxes from the people, it also keeps giving money to the people.

National governance? What the hell is that? If every citizen is given $100,000 a year, there's no need for governance at all.

Of course, the citizens here refer to the Malays. The Chinese in Brunei are just workers. It is extremely difficult for them to obtain citizenship, and the wealth created has nothing to do with them. This is also the direct reason why the Malays have been reproducing in this country since World War II, while the proportion of the Chinese population has been decreasing.

After all, they have been enjoying state welfare since they were born, while the Chinese have to work hard to support the royal family and the huge Malay society.

However, it is said that Brunei's oil wells will be exhausted by 2025 and the entire country will have no other industries except oil fields.

But no matter what, there are still seventy or eighty years to enjoy.

Such a big and fertile place, and quite close to Zheng Yi, so of course he had been eyeing it for a long time.

In this time and space, the Brunei royal family has basically treated the Chinese in Brunei equally. To be honest, the Chinese deserved to be reduced to second-class citizens in Brunei. At least so far, there have been basically no racial conflicts within Brunei, and the royal family actually relies more on the Chinese.

So Zheng Yi also had a good attitude towards him. Seeing that he was so sensible and understanding, he also became easy-going.

But he said, "Your Majesty, you are embarrassing us by saying that. The oil fields in Brunei belong to Shell, and Shell's Southeast Asian operations are currently seeking to join the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. However, the specific shares and the value of the oil fields have not yet been negotiated."

"If this deal is concluded, Brunei's oil fields will naturally become part of the SAARC. I wonder if Your Majesty has any opinions on this?"

Mahmoud: "No, I don't have any opinion."

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "I know that Shell has been a bit overbearing in the past. I heard that they want to take more than 90% of the oil from Brunei's oil wells, leaving you with a small amount."

"This is quite different from our style of doing things in the Southern Alliance. In the Southern Alliance, we emphasize mutual assistance and mutual benefit. Blindly acting in a domineering manner will not last long."

"What I mean is that Your Majesty can set up a company in the name of the Brunei royal family to join us in the management of the oil wells by acquiring shares. This company can then join the SAARC like other companies in Penang and enjoy SAARC's protection."

"Of course, we in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation also have our own rules. All Chinese working in South Asian Association enterprises will have the right to bear arms. Workers on the oil wells will also have to organize their own oil well guard teams. I hope you can understand this."

Ahmed: "I understand, I understand, I understand very much. Of course, um... I mean, those oil wells are so important, of course we should mine them with weapons. Otherwise, what if some unruly people get jealous of the money we make from oil wells and cause trouble for us?"

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "Your Majesty also owns a 30% stake in the oil field. I wonder if you can guarantee that the oil field's exploitation will not be disrupted by unruly people?"

Ahmed: "Of course I can. Isn't that what you gave me for doing this?"

　I'll try to resume the update tomorrow

　　
　
(End of this chapter)